1 Head cabbage (medium-small) Salt and pepper; to taste
1 lb Fresh ground pork 1/4 c Milk
1 c Fine bread crumbs 6 To 8 bacon slices
1 Egg ;Boiling water
EGG SAUCE
2 tb Butter 1 Egg
1 1/2 tb Flour 1 tb ;Cold water
2 c Drained cabbage-cake liquid Salt and pepper; to taste
— (approximately)
To make the cake, bring a large kettle of salted water to a boil. Core
cabbage and remove all leaves one by one, dropping them into the
boiling water. Boil about 5 minutes, until leaves are wilted and
pliable. Drain leaves and allow them to cool enough that they can be
handled.
Blend pork with bread crumbs, egg, salt, pepper and milk. It should
look like a meatloaf mixture.
Line a heavy saucepan or pot with bacon slices, covering bottom and
reaching up the sides as far as they will go. (The pan size will
depend on the size of the cabbage; we used a pan that measured 7″
across the bottom, 6″ deep. The cabbage cake was only 2 or 3″ deep
in it, but you need the extra room for the liquid.)
In the bacon-lined pot, layer in 1/3 of the cabbage, then half the
pork mixture and so on, making 3 layers of cabbage and 2 of pork.
Place a plate and a weight on the cabbage. Set the pan on medium
heat until you can hear the bacon sizzling for a minute or two, then
pour boiling water over to cover the cabbage and put on a
close-fitting lid. Reduce heat to below medium and cook for one hour.
Drain and save the liquid. Turn cake out onto a warm serving plate.
To make egg sauce, melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Stir in flour.
Gradually add reserved liquid; stir until thickened. Beat egg with
the cold water. Stir half the sauce into the beaten egg-water.
Return all to saucepan and cook, not boiling, for a couple of
minutes. Season and serve in a separate sauce boat.
Note: To double the recipe, make 2 cabbage cakes, using 2 pans
instead of one large one.
Reader Bobby S. Phillips of Shelbyville, KY requested the recipe,
saying that he and his wife had first tried this when they got
married. In her 11/06/91 “Cook’s Corner” column in “The (Louisville,
KY) Courier-Journal, Alice Colombo indicated that the recipe
initially ran on 02/04/70. Pg. C10.
Yields
6 servings